Happy Weeks Ahead
by Hardman 5509
Summary: What is supposed to be a magical time for the princess turns out to be a living hell. Kitana is going to need some serious medicine for these two weeks. Rated T for the usual themes and the occasional bout of insanity coming from the kharacters.
1. Prelude

Today was meant to be a beautiful, brilliant day.

Kitana had finally, after many years and many deaths, had gotten her mother and the ruling council to let up on their overly-constrained rules so she and Liu Kang can marry…right after having to convince Liu Kang to drop his 'I'm the guardian of Earth' stance. Shao Kahn and his troops had been pushed back from Edenia, Earthrealm was in the clear, and the biggest threat going on right now were the weather going out of control or a natural disaster.

Kitana feared only the unpredictable. And she didn't see what laid in her mother's room coming…

"MILEENA?" Kitana roared upon seeing her clone playing in the corner with a teddy bear, acting completely obvious to the events transpiring around her. Sindel didn't even rise from her chair as Kitana walked over to Mileena and pointed a angry, trembling finger at her. "Tell me, mother, as to why this creature deserves even the corner!"

"Sheeva found her mindlessly wandering the gardens this morning, when you went to Earthrealm to see your future husband." Sindel explained, with a more somber tone than what Kitana expected. "Her mind has been shattered into pieces….possibly the work of that soul-stealing sorcerer. Mileena hadn't responded to anything; not her name, not to any other name, not to any familiar objects, nothing. She is practically a baby now." Sindel shook her head; out of pity? After all the twisted, demented acts of evil she performed under the tutelage of Khan, you think Sindel would be a little less…concerned.

"Regardless, she should stand trial for her crimes against Edenia!" Kitana declared, again pointing to Mileena, who had put down the toy and now looked on to the arguing Kitana like a confused baby.

"How can she defend herself if she can't recall her own name?" Sindel pointed out.

"You can't be seriously considering giving her a fair trial!"

"We can't just execute her outright when she's like this. Our allies in the Earthrealm will not like it if we executed a mentally-handicapped person."

"She's isn't handicapped…"

"Kitana." Sindel sighed, resting her head on the hand perched up on the chair's arm. "It's my decision, and I'm sticking with it. Also, it's my decision for the wedding to go ahead." This turned Kitana's aggravation into fear as her own mother gave a subtle evil eye. "Yes. Leave Mileena be..."

"Or you'll do something to Liu Kang!"

Now it was Sindel's time to be surprised. "No. I was going to play the annoying mother-in-law I often hear about from the Earthrealm ambassadors. But…" She waved her hands around, trying to figure which plan would be better by weighing invisible weights. Kitana took the smart decision.

"Fine." Kitana sighed and threw down her arms. "I'll let Mileena live…" But she said the next part with the tone she entered the room with. "…for now."

"If and when she regains her memories we will decide her next course of action." Sindel concluded. "You can help her…" Sindel gave a cross look at her biological daughter to make sure she didn't interrupt. "…and perhaps she can offer information on Shao Khan's plans."

"I want nothing to do with her." Kitana groaned, squeezing her eyes closed for a second. "The wedding is two weeks away. I don't want her near anything to do with it." She started to count off the various details off her fingers. "I don't want her near the preparations, I would prefer if she kept away from any of the guests, she's NOT ALLOWED anywhere near the ceremony…"

"Fine." Sindel blew it off with a wave of her hand. "I make sure she keeps away from you and anything having to do with the wedding. Mileena will either be kept to her room or be kept to paths away from the guests."

"Good!" Kitana cleared her throat. "Now I'm off to prepare…and forget." She left the room with a quick jog out of the room, leaving Mileena to play with the teddybear as Sindel just shook her head.

"Oh, my dear daughter." She shook her head. "These two weeks are going to be the longest…"


	2. The Guests Arrive

Most of the Earthrealm heroes arrived together on the first day. Kabal had vanished off into the unknown and Raiden only came by to say 'hi', say he'll be back in time for the wedding, steal some pasties from the kitchen and vanish to deal with 'Elder God business'.

Each hero offered his or her own idea on about Raiden's excuse. The two honest Shaolin Monks and Nightwolf believed a dispute between two of the gods needed a neutral mediator to end the argument. The nonchalant Sonya said Raiden didn't really care. Jax barked at her right before he said Raiden wanted some time off; to get away from the idiots. Cage, in the usual CAGE fashion, believed that Raiden had a hot date with some sexy thing. Jade couldn't help by remark that Elder God business meant going to the bathroom in a rather uncharacteristic moment for the royal guard.

Regardless of Elder God antics, Kitana welcomed each of her guests with a kiss to the cheek and a full-on smack to Liu Kang without making him blow up into a hundred ribcages. Most of the other guests just looked away and made groans at seeing this, much like the mature adults they are. Kid-like Johnny hollered and shouted out Liu Kang's name like the former fratboy he wasn't.

"Thank you all for coming to this glorious event!" Kitana put on her royal airs to announce to the others. "I'm glad all of you got some time off from your tiring jobs!"

"I'm the boss of my own business." Jax chuckled as he held out his arms. "It's no problem."

"Stryker is coming in a few days." Sonya filled in for the author, who forgot to bring him up. "Said something about paperwork."

"Acting isn't tiring!" Johnny inputted his own two cents. Not even a hobo would want that.

"How special." Kitana remarked under her breath about Johnny's plight. "The schedule is fairly lax as Edenia weddings go, but we still need to set up, rehearse and do anything else required." She clapped her hands together. "But at least you get to relax and calm down after many, many long and tiring battles with Shao Khan."

"Thanks for having us." Kung Lao bowed. "Where shall we drop our bags?" Kitana didn't answer with words but by waving her arm towards the servants, who went over and took the many bags of luggage (Mostly Johnny's) and directed the guests to their rooms. Kitana however took Liu Kang by his arm and directed him down a different hallway.

"Something wrong, Princess?" He asked as the two continued to walk.

"I need you to keep a secret from the others." Kitana whispered. "I want these two weeks to go by peacefully without any problems or fights."

"That's…" Liu Kang looked away. "…going to be easier said than done. We might have to quarantine some of the guests…"

"Yes, for kombat mania." Kitana joked with a roll of her eyes. "But really, we have a surprise guest that will make even more chaotic…"

"With a 'k'?"

"No, with a 'c'." Liu Kang now knew the severity of the situation. Kitana continued after noticing her betrothed's serious expression. "Mileena arrived yesterday."

"Is she under lock and key?"

"My mother placed her in her own room." Kitana groaned out her annoyance. "She had memory loss…apparently...and now she's harmless as a flea." She threw up her arms. "And my mother refuses to do anything but nurture the beast until Mileena regains her memory."

"Ah." Liu Kang snapped his fingers. "The leaders of the Earthrealm might get annoyed if we executed a mentally-inclined person."

"My mother said that." Kitana rolled her eyes. "Mileena is supposed to be contained in her room by guards…but knowing how that Murphy's Law Sonya moaned about works…" Kitana did more things annoyed people do when they're annoyed.

"Have no fear." Liu Kang held one hand to his chest and one flat in the air in a salute. "I shall keep this secret from the others, and if Mileena does indeed escape her room to wreak 'chaos'…with a 'c'…I shall assist in making sure she doesn't meet with anyone else."

"Oh thank you." Kitana sighed out a breath of relief as she hugged her betrothed. "This makes things so much easier…"

"Don't say stuff like that." Liu Kang brought up.

"Nah." Kitana shook her head like she considered the whole thing to be over. "That's one problem dealt with."

"Don't say it."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

Meanwhile at Shao Khan's Hidden Palace:

The would-be emperor of all things drummed his fingers on the broken arm of his throne. Every plan he came up with so far to bring the realms under his control had utterly failed. A army of mixed races fell. Wet work soldiers were caught and executed. Convincing other realms to join him didn't work. Different tactics and weapon also failed to make dents. Even the harlots didn't convince anyone to join, the harlots just went off with the men and women they loved to get good educations and live a better life.

"DAMN IT ALL!" He cursed, smashing the throne arm for good this time. "Reptile! Baraka! Come forward! NOW!"

The Raptor and the Tarkatan nervously approached the wrathful god and bowed.

"You two have a job to perform." Shao Khan announced. "Enter Edenia and infiltrate the castle."

"And kill Sindel?" Baraka asked.

"No, we need the queen alive to use a puppet ruler."

"What about Kitana?" Reptile questioned.

"No, you kill no-one."

The two creatures faced each other. "Sire, that's all we know how to do."

"Yes, I know." Shao Khan sighed, and wiped his face with his hand. "And if everyone else wasn't dead or off doing something else, I would let you two go and kill Shaolin Monks."

"Monks…They don't taste good." Reptile threw that in.

"Such a barbaric action…" Baraka huffed. "We Tarkatans aren't cannibals…"

"GET BACK ON TRACK!" Shao Khan boomed. "Go into the castle, find Mileena, get her out and report any activity in the castle. If there's something going on, this will be the perfect opportunity to attack and end this farce!"

"You haven't even tried human meat before." Reptile pushed Baraka on the chest while defending his culinary preferences.

"I will never try human meat. I have standards." Baraka snarled.

"WILL YOU PLEASE GET TO WORK?"

Reptile and Baraka beat a hasty retreat, leaving Shao Khan to moan like a wounded banker who just lost a million dollars. "No one else in any of the realms has pain equal to mine right now."

The good news is that Khan's week would eventually get better. But for every reaction, there is a equal and opposite reaction…


	3. Babysitter's Bemoaning

Sheeva distinctly recalled not putting 'babysitter' on her resume…that being said, she never did write a resume nor needed a resume in the first place. Her four large, strong arms should have served as a resume to anyone seeking her service.

For crying out loud, they were made to smash various objects, ranging from bricks to skulls, not for swinging babies!

Mileena had received one of the larger rooms the palace offered; that way she would plenty of room to run around in without getting too cooped up. The last thing Kitana wanted was a crazy clone of hers running around and wrecking chaos with a 'c'. Sheeva knew that chaos with a 'c' was the worst kind and understood how important her job was…but still. Babysitting? Really now?

"Is there a swingset in here?" She asked with wide child-like eyes. Plus, the effect of the new Mileena was just unnerving on poor Sheeva. The old Mileena was basically a murderous succubus who could barely keep her clothes on or keep her weapons on her body. This Mileena chased around butterflies. This Mileena played with teddy bears without turning them into weapons. This Mileena wanted to hang a swingset hung up in her room…to swing on and not strangle people with the chains and then pose the dead bodies for humorous effects.

"No." Sheeva repeated her new catchphrase.

"Aww." And Mileena said hers. She passed it off and went prancing around the room for the umpteenth time. All Sheeva had to do was to follow the dancing girl and make sure she didn't try to escape the room.

At this point, Sheeva wanted, nay! She DESIREED Mileena to suddendly regain her memories, declare "I'm gonna to kill you!" and start a fight where Sheeva could relieve her boredom by breaking limbs in the order of left leg, right arm, right leg, left arm. However, unlike most of the Shokan, she definitely knew that wouldn't be the smartest idea. Unless she had a tape recorder, (Which she didn't) killing Mileena in Mortal Kombat alone in a closed room would make her look like a senseless murderer. (Which she isn't…she kills with reason.) No, Mileena continued to chase after imaginary friends to play with.

"Hey." Sheeva looked down to see Mileena crawling up to her. "I'm hungry."

"And so are millions." Sheeva hissed her under breath. She rapped on the only method of safely leaving the room, the doors. (Outside of crashing through a heavily reinforced window.) A guard poked his head through the open door. "You." Sheeva ordered. "Go retrieve some spare food from the kitchen."

"As opposed to the bathroom, gotcha." The guard snarked before retreating back to the hall. This only reminded Sheeva of her other problem. Despite being a personal bodyguard to the high holy queen herself, the guards often would insult her under their breath like a bunch of schoolgirls and make a hasty retreat far away before she could retaliate with brutal force to the face or other sensitive parts.

She left the Shokan after Goro declared the glory of working under Shao Khan. She hoped by working alongside the Edenians, she would be able to bring back the true ideology of the Shokan one day. But given the quips and the babysitting, she considered that living each day with the 'Prince of Pain' wouldn't be as bad.

"Play with me?" Mileena held up a second teddybear, this one wearing a bow on it's head.

"Where did you get that?" Sheeva asked.

"I found it!"

"Where did you find it?"

"Out there!"

"Where is there?"

"Not here?" Mileena looked on with a confused look. Sheeva gave a cross look, not in the mood for such pathetic jokes.

The one good thing about Sheeva? The two week period would improve for her.

So when I said the whole Newton's Law thing, 'for every action, the story of my death was greatly exaggerated, blah blah?' Yeah. I kinda lied about that. Shao Khan and Sheeva would have a better time than Kitana. So for every action Kitana does, there will be a equal AND a opposite reaction.

Or something akin that. I'm the kid who fell asleep in class and bluffed my way through tests.


	4. The Unexpected

Kitana gleefully danced alone through the marbled halls of her home without a single care in the world. For once everything set down on her plan was coming together just nicely. There might be a few road bumps along the way, Mileena did pop up, but Kitana could handle anything now without any problems.

Everything is just fine.

And then everything started to go down-hill, of course.

A loud banging came from the grand front doors just north of her. Kitana didn't consider the volume nor realize the sound emitted from fifteen feet above her. With only the thought that another guest had arrived a little late, she danced over and opened the door with the greeting: "Good…GORO!"

"Unusual euphemism to use, but to some I AM indeed a god." Boasted Goro, as he flexed his bulging muscles. Kintaro merely waved from behind Goro as he held onto the many bags Goro brought along. The two Shokans walked into the entrance hall and around the would-be queen like they were invited.

"You weren't invited!" Kitana barked.

"Oh." Goro looked down like he made a fatal error. "I do apologize. I must have received a forgery." He reached into his cloak and pulled out a beautifully colored laminated card and handed it to Kitana. Having recognized the card itself, she snatched the card to check it out completely. Indeed, the card read out the invitation to the wedding to Liu Kang and Kitana in Edenia on the appointed day. Either the mail carrier must have turned right at Abbey Road (Or whatever that Earthrealm reference Johnny spouted whenever he traveled to a different realm.) or Goro had a perfect counterfeit card.

"Something wrong, Princess?" Goro flashed a toothy smile. "Did I come at the wrong time?" Kitana stepped back as Goro bended down to face her.

"No…be right back, justneedtochecksomethings." Kitana rolled those words out as she dashed up to her mother's room. She opened the door with a forceful swing, asking out loud, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING MOTHER?!"

"Drinking some oolong grey and catching up on my Charlotte Bronte." Sindel calmly sipped from her finely crafted teacup before putting down her book. "Did Mileena escape? Did Johnny Cage die again?"

"Worse." Kitana stormed into the room. "Goro and Kintato are here…with a invite." She grabbed the book from her mother's hands to grab her full attention. "Did you…invite him?"

"…that can be…"

"Yes or no?"

"It's a maybe."

"How can sending someone a invitation be a 'maybe'?"

"Because I wish to discuss peaceful relations with the Shokans and I got lazy?"

Kitana wished to retort, but seeing how Sindel had started to get the races formerly associated with Shao Khan under her wing (Off-panel) this definitely came off as a 'maybe'. Kitana sighed with resignation once more, before asking. "Okay, fine. But before I go, please." She got her knees and held up her clasped hands. "Please. How many people did you invite us using my wedding invites?"

Sindel looked to the ceiling to think. "Only Goro and Kintaro."

"Are you sure."

"I'm sure."

"I need you to be absolutely sure. Did you send out any invitations to anyone not on the invite list?" Kitana pounded her fist into a nopen palm.

"I'm sure." Sindel repeated, albeit a bit more annoyed. "Kitana, I'm not going to ruin your special day by inviting every terrifying or annoying person in all of the realms. I swear, I didn't send out any more invites. And!" She held up a finger to keep Kitana from rudely interrupting. "I'll have the guards keep the Shokan and Kung Lao away from each other."

"Geez." Kitana moaned. "Mileena and Goro under the same roof with their mortal enemies just around the corner?" She slumped into a corner. "At this point, I should just reschedule the whole damn thing…"

"But…" Sindel rotated her hand, expecting a contrived reason.

"…but if I do, all the really cool things that are involved in weddings won't be available for a hundred years!"

Sindel glared at Kitana.

"Okay, the caterers. The caterers won't be available for another hundred days."

"That's just a season."

"Too long!" Kitana got up and rushed out of the room. "Must get wed now!"

Sindel wondered what the hell got into her daughter. "I had to wait a year to marry Jerrod, and I didn't complain outside that one time I got drunk." She muttered to herself as she picked up her book. But before getting back into it, she added, "As far I know, she takes after her father."


End file.
